In recent months there have been many cases in which minors aged 12-15 from Silwan, in East Jerusalem, were arrested in the middle of the night by police officers and Israel Security Agency agents accompanied by armed border policemen. The minors were taken out of their beds and brought to the police station in the Russian Compound, in West Jerusalem. Some of them were brought handcuffed, and none of the parents were allowed to accompany them. At the station, the minors were interrogated on suspicion of stone throwing. According to testimonies that some of them gave to B’Tselem, the interrogators beat and threatened them.

A spat over the Ramat Shlomo housing project in East Jerusalem becomes a bigger clash as the secretary of State calls it ‘an insult to the United States.’

Aside from the general reasons for the weekly Friday demos in Sheikh Jarrah, there is another reason that we’re there every Friday, even last week when we held the big rally. The reason is this: every Sabbath evening a group of extreme right-wing ultra-orthodox Jews (henceforth: the hooligans) congregate in front of one of the stolen houses in order to “pray”. So we come every Friday afternoon so as to maintain a presence.

Friends,

As many of you know, a civil lawsuit in the case of our daughter
Rachel Corrie is scheduled for trial in the Haifa District Court
beginning March 10, 2010. A human rights observer and activist, Rachel, 23, tried nonviolently to offer protection for a Palestinian family whose home was threatened with demolition by the Israeli military.

On March 16, 2003, she was crushed to death by an Israel Defense Force (IDF) Caterpillar D9R bulldozer in Rafah, Gaza.

An attack against a student group that was sympathetic to the Palestinians occurred at the University of Western Ontario in 1982. The student group was refused official recognition because of its support for the Palestinians and for sponsoring Palestinian and Arab speakers. After this refusal a complaint was made to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Indictments issued Thursday against two soldiers who fought in Operation Cast Lead for allegedly forcing child to open bags suspected of being booby trapped. Ynet reveals full testimony of child, Majd that lays out alleged events of that day. The war through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy.

Palestinians mark 1000 days of the siege. Palestinians in Gaza have held a candlelit vigil to mark the 1000th day of the siege of Gaza. Hundreds of people gathered at the “Square of the Unknown Soldier” in Gaza City on 11 March to remind the world of the immoral blockade imposed by Israel, with Egyptian support.

THIS week, when I return to my village in the occupied West Bank, I face possible arrest by Israel for engaging in nonviolent protests against abusive Israeli policies opposed by our own government.

This prospect is difficult after 29 years of living in the United States, where such activities are fully protected. It was this openness that attracted me to the U.S. I became a proud citizen and pursued work not only in my profession but also as a human rights advocate.

Israel builds still more facts on Palestinian ground, while stalemate persists

Rachel Corrie was a college student from Washington state who tried to slow the destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza. She was run down by an Israeli military bulldozer operator while she communicated with him on a bullhorn.

The Israeli Defense Forces were not held accountable. But, the parents of Rachel Corrie this week, are actually having their day in court. They are currently in Haifa, Israel for the civil case involving the death of their daughter.

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, talked to Cindy and Craig Corrie; two courageous parents who are trying to find justice in a nation that routinely destroys the homes of Palestinian people in its ever-broadening claim of the tiny amount of remaining Palestinian land.

A Palestinian official told the newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi Saturday that U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell promised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that the U.S. will bring a halt to Israeli building in East Jerusalem.

"In a telephone conversation, Mitchell said the U.S. would make sure Israel stops building in the area," the Palestinian official told the London based Arabic daily newspaper.

Based on Biden's reaction, it seems that he (and, presumably, his boss) has decided that it is better to leave with a few sour grapes than to quarrel with the vineyard guard. In his speech at Tel Aviv University, he said he appreciated Netanyahu's pledge that there would be no recurrence. But what exactly does that mean? That next time he comes, the Planning and Building Committee will be asked to defer discussion of similar plans until the honored guest has left? With the media storm dying down, Netanyahu can breathe a sigh of relief.

In a sense, the uproar actually helped him: To wipe the spit off his face, Biden had to say it was only rain. Therefore, he lauded Netanyahu's assertion that actual construction in Ramat Shlomo would begin only in another several years.

A friend in Cairo mentioned that he had a laptop and some CDs that were intended for a friend of his in Palestinian Rafah. He knew that I planned to go to al-Arish, and if I could make it past the checkpoints, to Egyptian Rafah, and asked if I could arrange to have the items smuggled to Gaza. I agreed; the siege is an expression of moral bankruptcy and responsible human beings are compelled to undermine the regime in every way. Furthermore, the Palestinians of Gaza have very few options when it comes to receiving basic goods.

Thousands of French protesters have rallied against the import of Israeli goods produced in Palestinian territories.

Monday's demonstration comes less then a month after the European Union's Court of Justice ruled that Israeli goods made in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank cannot be considered Israeli.

The next Intifada could see the Palestinian people in struggle not only against Israel but also against the Palestinian Authority, writes Khalid Amayreh in Ramallah

It has been reported in Ha’aretz that President Obama submitted a letter of commitment to the Palestinian side to get these indirect “proximity talks” off the ground. The letter notes, “Our core remains a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian State with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967.” This is not the first time a US administration has used its creativity in creating new terminology to deal with the conflict instead of relying on the time-tested body of international law that provides the keys to real progress. In the past, in place of “independent state” the US has attached such adjectives to the word “state” as “contiguous,” “viable,” “economically viable,” “territorial continuity,” and the like.

It was hard to say goodbye to my wife and friends in the US. The last night was very meaningful as we were in New York seeing the performance of Najla Said, daughter of my friend and mentor, the late Professor Edward Said (for an earlier statement from Najla.

The Israel Defense Forces prosecution on Thursday filed an indictment against two combat soldiers suspected of inappropriate conduct during Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip in 2008.

The soldiers, who served as staff sergeants in the Givati Brigade during Operation Cast Lead, allegedly forced a 9-year-old Palestinian boy to open a number of bags they thought might contain explosive materials. The bags turned out to be harmless.

“We were in our home when we heard the Israeli tanks and bulldozers approaching. We ran off immediately,” says Sbaih.

She walks over felled trees, past the bulldozed cistern, and to the ruins of their home.

“It’s all destroyed. Look, our clothes are buried,” she shouts, pulling at a sweater caught beneath the concrete block pile.

Household belongings are strewn on top of and beneath the pyramid of rubble. A gas range, several cooking pots, a plastic water bottle filled with olives, another with olive oil — both from their land and their destroyed olive trees — denote where the kitchen once stood.

No sooner had the Obama administration announced the resumption of “indirect” talks between Israel and the PA regime than Israel announced new plans to expand Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank .

On Tuesday, as visiting US Vice president Joe Biden was showering Israel with the usually excessive praise, the Israeli Interior Ministry, headed by Eli Yeshai, announced plans to build 1600 new settler units in East Jerusalem.

Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, Okayed the construction of 112 additional settler units in the West Bank, effectively terminating an earlier half-hearted decision to partially freeze Jewish settlement expansion for eight months.

On March 9th there was a $1,000 a plate fundraising dinner at New York’s Waldorf Astoria for the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) – the same folks that rained death and destruction on Gaza a little over a year ago. The dinner was sponsored by Friends of the IDF.

A group of Israeli settlers destroy a spring by the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan in the Salfit district of the occupied West Bank. Palestinian villagers were forced to watch helplessly as settlers poured sand and cement into the spring, guarded by five armed members of the Israeli military.

Some 50,000 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line are in various stages of planning and approval, planning officials told Haaretz. They said Jerusalem's construction plans for the next few years, even decades, are expected to focus on East Jerusalem.

On March 1, the premier episode of a 90 part series, “Sleepless in Gaza…and Jerusalem” was launched on YouTube, and there are now eight episodes online. The video diary chronicles the lives of four young Palestinian women, Muslim and Christian, two living in Gaza and two in Arab Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Khalid Amayreh: “As an oppressed people our certainty is to be free”

Unlike the US, photos of missing children do not appear on milk cartons in Occupied Palestine…. their parents know where they are…. kidnapped by Israeli soldiers, or worse.

“…the government of Israel practices a brutal form of Apartheid in the territory it occupies. It’s army has turned every Palestinian village and town into a fenced-in, or blocked-in, detention camp.”
Shulamit Aloni, January, 2007
Former Education Minister under
Yitzhak Rabin *

Gaza – Protests against the crippling siege imposed on the Gaza Strip should spread across the world, said Palestinian lawmaker Jamalh Al-Khudari on Sunday, as the blockade enters its 1000th day.

The Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip has so far resulted in the death of 500 Palestinians, says a Palestinian lawmaker as the siege enters its 1,000th day.

The Israeli military Operation “Cast Lead” is based on ethnic cleansing of the ittihad_news-4families of Palestinian politicians and resistance in Gaza. According to the cabinet of the criminal Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, and the chief of the Israeli intelligence, Yuval Diskin, the military Operation “Cast Lead” must put an end to some political activists, Palestinian resistance and their families as the only solution to “decrease the terror” of revenge against Israel. According to these Israeli war criminals, the murder of the families of Palestinian political activists and resistance fighters is very important for the security of Israel. By murdering their families, Israel will guarantee that no revenge would be possible in the future.

A controversial campaign in the Western world links Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the treatment of blacks in apartheid South Africa, called the Israeli apartheid week. Inside Story asks: Is criticism of specific Israeli policies raising doubts about Israel’s right to exist? And is Israel now on the PR offensive to fight back?

The PA decision to resume “indirect talks” with Israel is undoubtedly a clear expression of its moral and political bankruptcy. It is also an expression of its inability to lead the Palestinian people.

The PA leadership had been saying ad nauseam that it won’t resume “peace talks” with Israel until and unless Israel agrees to freeze Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Fatah conference in Bethlehem, which was held last year, even took a unanimous decision backing the PA stance on the settlements.

Now, it seems that all Fatah’s vows and undertakings were nothing more than hot air. This really begs the question of whether the PA itself can really be taken seriously.

Friday is the Holiest Day in the Islamic week. The following two reports demonstrate the contempt the zionists have for those of the Muslim faith….. Just imagine the SCREAMS of anti Semitism if anything similar happened to Jews anywhere….. screams that would be heard all around the world…… BUT, in the following instances … DEAD SILENCE!

Dozens of Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces entered East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following the weekly Friday prayers, firing tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades.

Anyway, however different from apartheid the occupation may be, it’s definitely more like apartheid than it is like democracy.

In case any of my readers have any doubts as to the type of people that are settling into Palestinian OWNED homes in Sheikh Jarrah, the following should clarify the matter.

These illegal settlers are truly among the lowest forms of life as we know it.

These are not ordinary people, they are inflicted with a deadly virus known as zionism. To date, there is no known cure.

Clashes on the Temple Mount plaza in Jerusalem's Old City Sunday capped a week of violence since the declaration of Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem as official Israel heritage locations.

The Israel Defense Forces called off a raid in Palestinian territory after a soldier posted details, including the time and place, on the social networking website Facebook, Army Radio reported on Wednesday.

The soldier – since relieved of combat duty – described in a status update how his unit planned a “clean-up” arrest raid in a West Bank area, Army Radio said.

The Israel Defense Forces says it is using information on Israelis who demonstrate against the separation fence in a bid to deny them entry at nearby checkpoints. Israelis and others demonstrate every Friday at the villages of Bil’in and Na’alin.

The Israeli Authorities decided to file charges against a 12-year-old Palestinian child from the southern West Bank city of Hebron after arresting him and charging him with throwing stones at the Israeli military.

Exposing Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity should therefore be viewed as an essential component in the enduring Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice. It is also a pre-requisite for undermining the mendacious Israeli narrative, notoriously based on lies, half-truths and distortion of history.

During an appearance at Vassar College in early February, controversial New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner was asked about the ongoing evictions of Palestinian families from homes in East Jerusalem which Israel occupied in 1967. Israeli courts have ruled that Jewish settlers could take over some Palestinian homes on the grounds that Jews held title to the properties before Israel was established in 1948.

On February 25, 1994, hundreds of Muslims were performing the Dawn Prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, also known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs.

However, a former Jewish immigrant from the United States, who was also a soldier in the Israeli security forces, ascended to the holy shrine and opened fire indiscriminately from his Galilion semi-automatic rifle, killing at least 29 people and injuring more than 160 others.

Adel Idris, a survivor, described the scene.

Barkat is expected to announce that he wants to pursue a plan that will retroactively legalize housing, including Beit Yonatan, owned by settlers.

The United States criticized Israel on Monday for authorizing 600 new housing units in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev, describing the move as “counter-productive.”

“We’ve relayed our strong concerns to the government of Israel, that this kind of activity, particularly as we try to relaunch meaningful negotiations is counter-productive and undermines trust between the parties,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

On Friday the government gave the green light for the new homes to be built in the Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem, drawing anger from the Palestinians.

The Israeli army invaded our neighborhood at 1:30 AM Tuesday morning waking up my mother, wife and sister. Heavily-armed soldiers blocked roads during “the operation”. When my family opened the door, they demanded to see me. They were told I have already left to the US. After many more questions, they left a paper that states I am to appear at the military liaison office next Monday. My sister and wife told them I will not be back by then. Clearly the warning from that military officer at Ush Ghrab that I mentioned in my last email, was based on knowledge of this. I guess I am a wanted man now.

“The year 2009 was the quietest for Israelis from the security point of view and the most violent for the Palestinians from the point of view of attacks by settlers in the West Bank.” Just as he was saying this – as an example of one of the absurdities that characterize the political situation – Palestinian Agriculture Minister Ismail Daiq received a phone call from the Jenin district to inform him that five artesian wells in the village of Daan had been destroyed that morning. One person was shot and wounded in the abdomen when he tried to lift the pump to save it from damage. This was not an attack by settlers but a raid by the army.

Immediately after the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, the Zionists began with the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem to make place for American and European Jews. They began implementing their plans to delete Palestinian Jerusalem and replace it with a Zionist version. One important landmark, a distinctive feature, of Palestinian Jerusalem is Al-Haram Ash-Sharif compound which includes Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. To completely wipe out any Palestinian feature of the city, it was necessary to wipe out Al-Haram Ash-Sharif compound. To achieve this, a series of attacks, under various naming and excuses, were carried out on the Noble Sanctuary.

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday stormed the courtyards of the Aqsa Mosque and cordoned off its premises where dozens of Palestinian worshipers are still maintaining a vigil and refusing to leave for fear of attacks by Israeli extremists.

Eyewitnesses said that more than 200 Israeli policemen have encircled the Aqsa Mosque since the early morning hours and demanded the worshipers come out.

Though pouring rain and even hail fell throughout the West Bank yesterday, demonstrations against land confiscation, the Annexation Barrier, and settler expansion in East Jerusalem continued on Friday.